Strangers and Immigrants

Immigration is one of the most heated subjects in American life, and churches are not above the fight. In many congregations you can hear newcomers described as a threat: to jobs, to safety, to the country's character. Some of it comes from pulpits; more comes from the pews and the family table, often from people who would never turn away a stranger at their own door.

You can hold any view you like on border policy and still follow him; he never addressed it. But how we treat and speak about the stranger is a different matter, and on that he was not silent. Let's look at what he said. You don't need anyone's permission to follow him there.

Measured against the center